Linear modelling of water potential and supply for decentralized Energy-Water-Food systems - case Study St. Rupert Mayer, Zimbabwe

Limited water accessibility threatens the development of communities, especially where agriculture is the main income source. The implementation of decentralized Energy-WaterFood systems is a promising approach to improve the situation in these communities, creating synergies and improving the profitability of the system. The model urbs optimizes EnergyWater-Food systems to generate the highest revenues, considering the local conditions and sustainability limits. This work improves the hydrogeological part of urbs in order to model the water potential of a given community, establishing interrelations of the water sector with the energy and food sectors, and maximizing the long-term benefits within the sustainability limits. The proposed method was applied to the rural community of St. Rupert Mayer in Zimbabwe. In order to analyse the impact of data uncertainty on the model results, the sensitivity of the main input parameters is analysed. The results indicate that it is important to implement reliable input data for dimensioning the proper system configuration, as otherwise the whole system would not be sustainable.